Tory and National Front websites hid Facebook tracking pixel

Some governments have closed their eyes, hoping that the menace will go away. It will not - it will only become stronger, according to the former prime minister of Estonia, one of the EU's leading digital states.

EU data protection chiefs are worried member states won't be ready when a new wide-sweeping general data protection regulation goes live on 25 May. National laws still need to be passed to ensure data authorities can enforce the regulation EU-wide.

EU judges have an opportunity to make clear that no member state can decide what the rest of the world reads online, now that Austria's Supreme Court has referred the Glawischnig case to the European Court of Justice.

Speaking in Brussels, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, says the social media giant has "not done enough to stop the abuse of our technology." Her admission comes with new plans to wrestle with "bad content".

The European Commission said it would hold off possible legislation that would force IT firms to police the internet, given the upsurge of removed online hate speech content.

The European Commission promised that the EU would spend around €1bn in public funding on the development of 'supercomputers', but a closer look at the legal documents revealed that this is based on old promises.

Illegal online content "should be removed within one to two hours," EU home affairs commissioner Avramopolous told a meeting of some 20 social media platforms.

Enisa's Udo Helmbrecht says that the agency will fulfil its tasks under the new regulation - but hinted at doing the bare minimum if its budget was not increased.

With its current policies on telecoms, the EU has set the stage for USA and Asia and handed them the trophy without even attempting to win it ourselves.

Amendments to the ePrivacy regulation will damage the funding models that enable most consumers to access free content and services.

Non-personal data should be allowed to cross EU borders without restrictions, with an exemption for security reasons, diplomats meeting in the Council of the EU have agreed.

Ruling means that national governments have the right to demand that Uber drivers request the same permits and authorisations required of taxi drivers.

'What we want do is add value on top, and do things' such as border controls and free data movement, said Norwegian state secretary Paul Chaffey about Nordic-Baltic digital cooperation.

Estonia will continue with its plan to develop tokens based on the blockchain technology, tentatively titled estcoin.